Lewis Hamilton, dressed in Scuderia Ferrari's red overalls, entered his ex-team Mercedes' garage riding on a scooter during the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. He greeted the engineers standing outside and went straight in to meet his former team.
Hamilton, a seven-time world champion F1 driver, made a historic switch to Ferrari this year after racing 11 years for Mercedes. In those 11 years, he won six world championships while his team clinched eight constructors championships.
However, after Mercedes saw a downful post 2021, Hamilton joined hands with the Italian team. Regardless, the love between Mercedes and Lewis does not seem to have been lost. During the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix held at Shanghai on March 23, Lewis Hamilton was captured entering Mercedes' garage on his scooter. He was dressed up in red overalls to race for Ferrari but went in the Silver Arrows' garage to greet his former team.
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After the British driver bid farewell to Mercedes, team principal Toto Wolff signed 18-year-old rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli as his replacement. Antonelli has a great start to his F1 career, finishing P4 in the Australian Grand Prix. Moreover, in China, he again got points, finishing P6.
Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, started the weekend in China with a victory in the Sprint race. However, on Sunday, he was disqualified from the race despite clinching P6. His car had excessive skid wear on the rear plank as its measurement after the race did not meet the minimum limit of 9 mm.
Hence, as a penalty, he faced disqualification. To add to his misery, his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc was also disqualified as his car failed the minimum weight test. As a result, Ferrari walked back from Shanghai with zero points, which will negatively impact their standings on the constructors championship.
Ferrari reacts to Lewis Hamilton & Charles Leclerc's disqualification in China
Ferrari was hit with a major blow on Sunday, March 23, as both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified from the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. Their cars violated FIA's regulations in the post-race check, resulting in zero points for both drivers.
Meanwhile, Ferrari issued a statement following the FIA's decision and clarified that they didn't mean to gain any advantage by violating laws. The statement said:
“Following the FIA post-race scrutineering, both our cars were found not to conform to the regulations for different reasons. Car 16 [Leclerc] was found to be underweight by 1 kg, and car 44’s [Hamilton’s] rearward skid wear was found to be 0.5 mm below the limit."
"Charles was on a one-stop strategy today, and this meant his tire wear was very high, causing the car to be underweight. With regard to Lewis’ skid wear, we misjudged the consumption by a small margin. There was no intention to gain any advantage," the statement further added.
Scuderia Ferrari has accepted the sanctions and promised to be careful henceforth, ensuring the same mistakes are not repeated.
